Scorpions Guitarist Says Booking 'Farewell Tour' Was a Bad Idea

posted by Andrew Magnotta -

Despite the illness that has prematurely ended the current tour,Scorpions guitarist Matthias Jabs says bands should never announce 'farewell tours.'

He said he came to that realization sometime during Scorpions' own farewell tour in 2010. Seven years later the legendary band was still on the road celebrating its 50th anniversary.

“We thought, rationally, it might be a good idea to say ‘bye bye’ while we were still in the best shape, leave the scene with the best impression and be remembered as a band that runs around like crazy," Jabs told Arizona Republic.

"But seven years later, that still goes as well. We still run around like crazy. And we don’t look that much different. So we postponed the end of everything and now we don’t know.”

Scorpions recently canceled the last five dates of the band's tour due to frontman Klaus Meine's severe laryngitis.

Jabs acknowledges that bands that have been around for 50 years have to be careful booking themselves far into the future—you never know when the end will come—but that doesn't mean bands should be putting arbitrary limits on their careers if they don't really want to stop performing.

Of the 2010 debacle, Jabs says each member of Scorpions thought the others were ready to retire. It wasn't until they were on tour that they realized none of them wanted to stop.

"It's getting a bit ridiculous when you say it and don't do it," he said, "so we won't do it again."